Healthcare Reform/Socialized Medicine

Following is a letter I wrote to Senator Tom Harkin (Sen., IA).  I thought other people might appreciate the viewpoint:

Dear Senator Harkin,

I won't waste your time with lengthy verbage.  I simply wanted to point out a significant flaw in your logic in your Op-Ed piece "Shifting America from sick care to genuine wellness."

You argue: "[t]he problem is that we have systematically neglected wellness and disease prevention [...]" and, further, this new healthcare bill "will hold down health care costs by creating a sharp new emphasis on disease prevention and public health."

I would agree that many Americans are indeed making themselves ill through poor personal care (i.e. eating unhealthily, not engaging in regular physical fitness, breathing the air in L.A., etc.).  I would further agree that this is a problem which needs to be addressed.  I would, however, disagree on your method of addressing the problem. 

This problem is a cultural problem, one that is endemic to the mentalities and daily habits of many Americans.  Your solution is a legislative one; new laws to "encourage" healthier living.  When has legislation ever fixed real problems?  Prohibition, aimed at clinching our vices, only exasperated the problem, and in the meantime created a booming industry in illicit alcohol.  We do not need expensive legislation (which we haven't the money to pay for) that will NOT solve our healthcare woes in the end.  We need a cultural shift, which is something that history has demonstrated, time and again, legislation is simply not capable of achieving. 

I urge you to consider other means for achieving the laudable goal of a healthier America.  I am concerned that the current approach to this problem will be an ineffective means of dealing with the problem.  It will increase the national debt without making significant strides to improve America.

Thank you for your time, sir.

Sincerely,

-Leire Balder

*edit* There was a minor typo in there.

Reality Check

This one goes out to the Supreme Court and to Mr. Michael Copps, Acting Chariman of the FCC.

In my reading of news this morning, I came across this article from CNN:  http://www.cnn.com/2009/US/04/28/supreme.court.indecent.speech/index.html .

Essentially, the Supreme Court heard the case of FCC vs. Fox Television Stations over the use of foul language.  The article noted that all major broadcast networks (distinct from cable channels, which do not broadcast over open airways, and are thereby immune to censure by the FCC) have had instances of foul language.  The Supreme Court's decision was to uphold the FCC's "enforcement power," but the Court referred the case to a lower court on the topic of First Amendment Rights.

Translation:  Yea, the FCC has the power to censure "inappropriate" material, but what should and should not be viewed as a violation of First Amendment Rights will be dealt with later, after more appeals.

What really fascinated me about this whole thing is the reactionary nature of the FCC's case, and the fear that many conservative folks seem to have of the "threat" of "bad language" to their social views.  Mr. Copps succinctly summed up that viewpoint when he called this decision a "big win for America's families."  So, by the FCC expunging "potty mouth" words from the airwaves, we will scrub America clean and make it a nation of upstanding and morally awesome people, yes?

No.  Reality check, folks.  At the schools I teach at, the junior highers make sexual innuendos and jokes.  The high school students know more about sex and drugs then I do, as a 25 year old who has travelled the world.  The reality of our society is high school students who have tried more drugs and know more about sex then many of their teachers, who are 10 - 20 years their elders.  This isn't something you can trace to the occasional f-bomb on the airwaves, and expunging "bad words" from the airwaves isn't going to change the culture. 

What people like James Dobson descry as a "moral bankruptcy" may be just what they say it is, but throwing morals at people is about as effective at changing their lives as throwing stones at them. 

There it is; the arch.  Gateway to the West (funny, growing up in "the West" it feels more like the "Gateway to the East" to me . . .) and all that jazz.  Why is it on here?  Because I was up in it on Monday!  One of my good friends was in the mid-west from Seattle, so I had to show her around.  :) 

You know, the sights, like the Missouri Botanical Gardens

local eateries, etc.  It was really awesome getting to see Beth again (especially since it had been almost a year since I saw her last; in Japan!).  Now, I'm afraid it's on to more mundane things . . . like grading.  :(  Perhaps I should pontificate on that . . .

Well, I'm afraid that it has been one unproductive weekend.  I didn't get a spot of work done.  I did, however, get to go snowboarding!

It looks like this will probably be the last snowboarding of the season as it was raining when I was up there in Wisconsin.  I had a great time, though; got to hang out with my old friend Kim, and now I guess I should actually get to work.  *sigh* 

Currently Rubber Soul By The Beatles Nowhere Man see related

on Religion

Yea, back to religion again.  It isn't that I've given up the ghost on this topic; I know I said that I was going to try to set out the basic tenants of what I could understand about religion, but I'm too busy these days.  Perhaps sometime in the near future I'll be able to get around to it, but for now I wanted to quote John Donne (without permission, of course):

BATTER my heart, three person'd God; for, you
As yet but knocke, breathe, shine, and seeke to mend;
That I may rise, and stand, o'erthrow mee,'and bend
Your force, to breake, blowe, burn and make me new.
I, like an usurpt towne, to'another due,
Labour to'admit you, but Oh, to no end,
Reason your viceroy in mee, mee should defend,
But is captiv'd, and proves weake or untrue.
Yet dearely'I love you,'and would be loved faine,
But am betroth'd unto your enemie:
Divorce mee,'untie, or breake that knot againe;
Take mee to you, imprison mee, for I
Except you'enthrall mee, never shall be free,
Nor ever chast, except you ravish mee.